Marijuana, as in most jurisdictions, is the number one illegally abused substance in Warren County and Wilmington. It is also the drug that yields the most profit to those trafficking in illegal substances.

Although quality marijuana crops are grown in southern Kentucky, most of the marijuana coming into southwest Ohio has origins in Mexico, and is carried across the border into Texas or Arizona. Large amounts of marijuana are typically transported by a variety of motor vehicles from those states into our region.

Large scale traffickers can make literally millions of dollars a year in the distribution of marijuana in our area. A few dealers are capable of distributing hundreds of pounds of the drug in one month. A pound of marijuana may sell for between $200-$400 at or near the Texas border, and be sold for 10 times that amount in Warren County and Wilmington.

The drug task force also typically discovers and destroys hundreds of marijuana plants being grown in Warren County, primarily in highly rural areas. The most common method is to place the illegal plants in the middle of an unknowing farmer's corn field. The plants are tended to by the growers, oftentimes at night with flashlights to avoid discovery. Growing marijuana can be a serious felony in Ohio, and several people have been charged with these offenses in the past few years in Warren County.

Another common method of producing marijuana is to grow the plants inside using artificial lighting. This may be in a person's residence, or an outbuilding with an elaborate system for cultivating the illegal product. Through a variety of means, we dismantle and arrest several subjects each year in our jurisdictions for growing marijuana indoors.